Leonardo Art/Science Evening Rendezvous of 12 April 2023

Online Edition

Exploring the Frontiers of Knowledge and Imagination, Fostering Interdisciplinary Networking
Hosted from University of San Francisco
by prof. Tami Spector and Piero Scaruffi
During the covid pandemic, this online program replaces the physical L.A.S.E.R.s that were planned at Stanford University and University of San Francisco.
The USF LASERs are sponsored by the Dean of the College of Arts and Science.
See previous and future speakers and their videos.
(Note: All times are California time)
    April 12 @ 12pm (California time)
    Margaret Geller (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) on "Mapping the Universe"
    Roxana Marachi (San Jose State Univ) on "How Surveillance Capitalism Ate Education for Lunch "
    Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian) on "What's in a Transformer: Why ChatGPT works so well"
    Register here

    Margaret Geller (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) on "Mapping the Universe"
    If you missed this dialogue, you can view it by clicking on the image:
    . Margaret Geller is senior scientist at the Center for Astrophysics of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and an astronomy professor at Harvard University. She studies the large-scale spatial distribution of galaxies and its origin. She is best known for maps of the nearby universe, for studies of the structure and evolution of systems of galaxies, and for combining redshift surveys with weak lensing maps to measure the mass distribution in the universe. Geller has also made two award-winning films about her work: Where the Galaxies Are and So Many Galaxies...So Little Time. The graphics from these films have been displayed in science museums around the world. Geller was an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley and she received her PH.D. in physics in 1975 from Princeton University. Geller is at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. She has received a number of honors including a MacArthur Fellowship (1990-1995), the Newcomb-Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1990), the Hogg Lectureship of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (1993), the Klopsteg Award of the American Association of Physics Teachers (1996), the Magellanic Premium of teh American Philosophical Society (2008), the NAS Watson Medal (2010), the AAS Russell Lecture (2010), the APS Lilienfeld Prize (2013), and the Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft. She has received 7 honorary degrees. Geller is committed to public education in science and she has had a long-term fascination with the relationship between art and science.


    Roxana Marachi (San Jose State Univ) on "How Surveillance Capitalism Ate Education for Lunch "
    If you missed this dialogue, you can view it by clicking on the image:

    . Roxana Marachi is a Professor of Education at San José State University where she teaches courses in the Department of Teacher Education and the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. Dr. Marachi’s research publications have focused on evaluations of policies and programs related to school violence prevention, high-stakes testing, privatization, and the technologization of teaching and learning. Her current interests are focused on strategies for the prevention of data harms and on bridging research-to-practice gaps in the integration of emerging technologies in education. Marachi is a fellow of the National Education Policy Center, served as education chair of the CA/HI State NAACP from 2019 to 2021, and has been active in local, state, and national efforts to strengthen and protect public education.


    Piero Scaruffi (Cultural Historian) on "What's in a Transformer: Why ChatGPT works so well"
    If you missed this dialogue, you can view it by clicking on the image:

    . Piero Scaruffi is a cultural historian who has lectured in three continents and published several books on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. He was the founding director of the Olivetti A.I. Center in the 1980s. He is the author of "Thinking about Thought" (2006), "A History of Silicon Valley" (2011) and "Intelligence is not Artificial" (2013). He has also written extensively about music, cinema and literature.
    Photos and videos of this evening